Someone I used to know
by readeverystory
Summary: Ty is at a gathering of the Clave, when he hears someone from a long forgotten past. Mild Spoilers for Queen of Air and Darkness.
1. Someone I used to know

The New York Institute was packed with people and Ty instantly wished he had his headphones with him, but he was a fighter of the Scholomance now and not a little kid anymore, he couldn't use the headphones, except when he really needed to concentrate.

Ty looked around wondering if he could spot his family between all the Shadowhunters dressed in gear, when he suddenly heard a very familiar voice from a long forgotten past, shouting: "William Carstairs, stay here!"

Ty's heart leaped so much in his chest, when he recognized Kit's voice, that he wondered if he was sick.

He must've made a funny face, because Gwenyth, a girl from the Scholomance, looked at him and asked: "Everything okay?"

Ty had never understood why people asked such a question when they obviously knew that not everything was okay.

"Yeah", Ty answered anyway, because that was what Julian would've answered.

"And Kit. Kit would've said that too", a voice whispered in his head that sounded suspiciously like Livvy's, even though Ty couldn't see her ghost anywhere.

"Just lots of people", Ty added when he noticed Gwenyth was still looking at him.

She nodded, apparently stratified with his answer. "Yeah, Consul Lightwood must have something very important to say if he summons the whole Clave."

Ty nodded, distracted by the familiar of Kit's laugh. "Stop it, Will."

"Go to him", a voice sounding so much like Livvy's whispered yet again in his head. "What are you waiting for?"

"But he said, he wished he had never met me. He left without saying goodbye. He doesn't want to see me."

"And you really think that's true?"

Of course it's true, Ty thought. Kit had said so himself. Why would he lie? Kit had never lied to him. What reason would he have had to start then?

"William Carstairs, you are a rotten child", Kit said and laughed again.

Ty had missed his laugh. He hadn't known how much until he heard it again now.

"I'm sorry. Gwenyth", Ty said, cutting the girl of in the middle of a sentence. "I think I heard someone I used to know."

Ty left her without waiting for an answer.

The crowd was even bigger than Ty had thought as he made his way towards Kit's voice. He spotted Clary and Jace out of the corner of his and dugged behind another Shadowhunter, effectively avoiding both the dreaded senseless small talk and being held up. He caught Diego's gaze, who waved at him, which Ty ignored and saw Isabelle Lightwood holding a struggling Rafael on his wrist. And then finally, finally he saw Kit.

Christopher Herondale looked different than the last time Ty had seen him. He had changed in those three years. His arms weren't thin as sticks anymore, he had built up the typical Shadowhunter muscles through years of training. His face was covered in stubble, as though he desperately needed a shave. He looked… grown up. Probably also due to the little kid he held in a way that made it obvious that he had done this loads of times.

He looks so different, Ty thought disappointed.

"But his smile", Livvy whispered, "his smile is still the same."

And as if Kit had heard her, he looked up and directly at Ty.

Ty had never been the best to read other people's expressions, it was like a closed book to him and even years of practice, years of Julian teaching him, couldn't open it, but now Ty was pretty sure the expression Kit wore was shock, which wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. Shock wasn't an emotion people liked, was it?

Kit's mouth formed a word, which Ty guessed was his name, but Ty had already seen enough. It had been a stupid idea to look for him. He didn't want him there. He hated him. Obviously.

Ty surpressed the tears that suddenly threatened to spill, turned and ran. He didn't hear Kit calling out to him.

 **This is just something that was inspired by Cassie's last book. I wanted it to have a happy ending but it didn't turn out that way, so maybe I'll add a second part. No promises though. Also published on AO3 under the same title and username.**


	2. A fragile, beautiful boy

Kit had never liked Clave gatherings. They were loud, much too full and even though the stupidest people were with the Consort in Idris, there were still plenty of stupid people that, in Kit's opinion, deserved nothing else than a good slap across the cheek. The older he got, the more he resented those meetings. Not only because he more and more realized just how stupid and hateful people could be, but also because more and more people started to mistake him for Jace and thought he was a cool war hero when, in fact, he was just some lame guy with too much fairy blood in his veins than was healthy for anybody. Though Kit thought it was kind of funny when people came to him all excited to finally meet one of their heroes only to realize that he was just the boring distant cousin who they were now forced to make polite conversation with. Kit had too admit though that sometimes he pretend to be Jace just for the laughs and, yes, also because he liked it a teeny tiny bit to be admired. It wasn't hard for him to take on this false identity, he had always been good at fooling people, at pretending to be something he was not. As fun as it was, Kit nevertheless disliked Clave gatherings with a passion and therefore he was glad when Tessa asked him to look after small Will Carstairs while they were at the gathering.

„I'm so sorry to bother you, Kit, I know you probably want to catch up with your friends, but I can't find a babysitter and Magnus has asked me and Jem if we could talk to him urgently and I don't want him to hear the probably depressing stuff Magnus has to say", she had said.

But Tessa needn't have been sorry, Kit did it with pleasure. After all there really was just one person he wanted to catch up with and Kit doubted that person was keen to do so.

„Don't worry, Tessa, Will is in safe hands", Kit therefore told her.

Tessa had smiled at him with worried eyes, as always when she smiled at him.

„Oh, by the way, do you know if the students of the Scholomance will also be there?", Kit asked with what he hoped would Tessa fool as a casual tone, not that Kit really believed that he could fool her, Tessa and Jem were one of the few people that saw right through. One of exactly three people to be perfectly clear.

„I don't know if Tiberius will be there", Tessa answered and Kit cursed silently.

He shrugged. „Okay, it doesn't matter anyways."

This time, he knew, he wouldn't even have fooled the stupidest members of the Consort.

The weekend came and went as it always did for Kit nowadays, full of training and swordfighting and suddenly Monday, the day of the gathering was upon them.

The Herondale-Carstairs packed their belongings, Tessa sat up a Portal and before Kit had any chance to back out, he was in the midst of a vast crowd of Shadowhunters dressed in gear, as if they were ready to charge in battle at any time, which they were, to be honest, and a small, wailing child in his arms.

Kit did have a few friends among the other Shadowhunters. He had kept in touch with Dru all those years and had found a few freinds in the London Institute and Enclave, but Will wasn't particularly fond of his parents leaving him alone and Kit knew he wouldn't see his friends anytime soon, when his little brother started crying louder than a Banshee. Not that Kit minded, he liked his role of an older brother, liked that the little boy looked up to him and, truthfully he wasn't looking forward to seeing some of his friends. They were just much too curious, wanted to know too much about his life, about his past. Kit could understand it, he hd lived with the Blackthorns after all and they had gained something of a celebrity tatus in the last three years. But he hated it, hated when they asked how they were, how he came to them, how everything had played out at that time. He hated it for several reasons. The story how he came to the Blackthorns always stirred up meomries of his father and of his screams as he died, but most of all, their questions stirred up meomories of _him_. Of the boy he'd once loved. And nobody wanted that. Nobody, especially not Kit.

Kit placed Will on the floor and knelled down to the crying child.

„Hey", he said to him, „hey, there's no reason to cry. Mom and Dad will come back later and I'm still here, right? I'm not going anywhere."

Kit only called Tessa and Jem Mom and Dad in front of his brother, but he had long accepted them as something of his Mom and Dad, even though nobody could replace his real father and neither the distant, almost nonexistent meomory of his real mother.

Will sniffled.

„Oh, come on. Where is that big smile of yours, huh? Where is it?", Kit asked him and sure enough Will gifted himj with a somewhat wavereing, but still visible smile.

„There it is", Kit said and smiled himself and with that as it sometimes was with children, his demeanor change entierly. Will suddenly laughed and turned around.

„Catch me", he cried out before he ran off between the legs of the other Shadowhunters.

„William Carstairs, stay here!", Kit shouted half serious, half amused.

But Will was not a child that listened to half amused orders, he just turned his head, stuck out his tongue at Kit and ran. Kit couldn't help but laugh as he ran after him.

„Stop it, Will", he shouted.

Will was a small, but he was fast as he skipped between all the legs of the serious looking husbands. When Kit finally caught up to him, he swung him onto his hip with a movement that was all to familiar to him.

„William Carstairs, you are a rotten child", Kit said and laughed again.

„Am not", Will protested.

„You are", Kit whispered to him, „and you know it."

He smiled at his little brother until suddenly a little shudder ran down his spine as if a cold wind had come up. Kit looked up, the smile still on his face and his eyes met with someone he hadn't expected. Ty. His Ty.

Without intention the smile slipped from his face as he took the other boy, or nearly man, in. Tiberius Blackthorn. He didn't look had left three years ago, which for some reason came as a shcking realization to Kit. It was ridiculous to assume sombody hadn't changed in over three years and still in his mind Ty had styed the fragile, beautiful boy he had met in LA. The boy he desperatly wanted to protect from the cruelty of the world and sharpness of his own mind. But in front of him stood an entirely different person. He was still beautiful, but Tiberius had grown in himself. He stood sure and steady on the ground, his eyes still sparkeling with intelect, but they were looking steadily at him instead of wandering around. And through his Scholomance uniform Kit could see hard muscles, tribute to years of training, instead of a lean, thin body. Ty had grown up.

Kit looked at him, his heart pounding in his chest. Every inch of his body told him to run to the boy, embrace him and never let go ever again. Every inch of his soul longed to be near him again and only then did Kit realize just how much he had missed him. Of course, he had known that he had missed him, that he would sometimes dream of him and wake up with tears in his eyes, but only now did he realize that his whole soul ached as if a hole had been ripped through his heart the day he had left the Blackthorns.

„Go to him", his mind seemed to tell him. „Run."

But Kit couldn't. His legs didn't seem to work. All he could do was wishper „Tiberius" soundlessly. And the other boy cast his eyes aside and ran.

„Ty", Kit shouted after him, but he didn't seem to hear.

 **Well, this is part two. You will have to wait for part three to finally get a happy ending, I guess. I really wanted to make it happen already, but the boys are quite stubborn.**


	3. Chapter 3

„Who was that?", Will asked curiously, interrupting Kit's racing thoughts and the neverending questions: Why had Ty left so quickly? Did he really hate him that much? Or had he already forgotten him?

Who knew maybe Kit was just a shadow of the past to him. A boy that had been thrown into his life and had left it as quickly as he'd come.

Kit certainly wished Ty could be that to him. A shadow, someone who would pop up in your mind once in a while and you'd think: I wonder how he's doing and then forget about that thought immediatly afterward. But Ty wasn't, he never would be.

„Someone I know", he said to Will. „We used to be friends."

„Why not anymore?", Will asked, looking up to him with clear eyes full of innocence.

„We", Kit began and corrected himself. „I messed things up. Terribly. He was angry with me and I didn't know how to make it up to him, so I... left and probably made it worse."

„Huh", Will said and looked puzzeled to the doorway where Ty had disappeared through. „Have you tried to apologize?"

It was one of those suggetion that could only be made by a child. Innocent, simple, honest. A suggetion by a child that had not quite grasped how complex the world was, how complex humans were, how complex emotions were. A child that had no knowledge that „just apologize" was never enough. Never. And yet, it couldn' t hurt, could it?

„Do you think it would help?", Kit asked.

Will, probably happy to be taken seriously for once, grinned. „Yes, I always apologize to you and Mummy and Daddy when I mess things up and it always makes it better."

For a moment Kit let himself imagine how it would be to walk up to Ty and talk to him, for the first time in three years. Just by imaging it, he felt his palms starting to sweat, his heart starting to pound and his mind starting to race. But still, despite all the dread he felt and the anxiety of being rejected, he still longed for Ty's laugh, his way of speaking, his beautiful, clear mind and most of all his fingers touching him once again.

„Okay", Kit whispered to himself, not quite believing what he was about to say. „Are you up for an adventure, Will?"

His little brother let out a happy scream and clapped. Kit assumed it was a yes. By the Angel, this was a stupid idea.

It took them a long time to find Ty. To Kit it felt like hours. Once he saw Julian from a distance, holding hands with Emma and Kit had pushed his little brother behind a pillar, not wanting to talk to him. With the exception of Dru, Kit hadn't talk to any of the Blackthorns in the last three years. Dru had reached out to him a few months after he had left, telling him she knew what Kit and Ty had done. Telling him, she knew that Livvy was alive and yet very much dead. Asking him, if he wanted to keep in touch. Kit had accepted. It had felt like a way to reassure himself that this past, this life with the Blackthorns, those few happy months had actually happened, that they had not been a dream.

They started texting with each other, even met a few time. Dru respected his boundries, never talked about Ty, never talked about the past, the only thing he did was train with him, watch movies with him and just hand out. They somehow became good friends, Kit appreciated how considerate she was towards his feelings and she probably liked to get out of Institute sometimes, away from her family that surrounded her 24/7. But despite all that it was still painful for Kit to see her.

Everytime he looked at her, he could see a little of Ty in her and how he hadn't responded when Kit had confessed his love to him. How he cried out to Livvy that he could not live without her.

With all the pain Dru caused him, Kit couldn't even imagine what it would be like to talk to the others again, to have to lie to them about Livvy, to have to hear stories about Ty, to have them blame him for leaving.

After successfully avoiding Julian and Emma, Kit wandered around aimlessly with his little brother in his arm for another hour or so. At least that's what it felt like to Kit, in reality it was probably just for another couple of minutes.

In his mind he started preparing speeches for Ty, trying to get him to listen, trying to get him to at least forgive him, even if he'd never forget.

And then suddenly they ended up in a room which looked like an unused bedroom and there he stood at the window, looking out at the world below him just like a beautiful angel. Tiberius Blackthorn.

Now that he was nearer Kit could see that yes, Ty had changed, he had grown, but there were other things that hadn't changed a bit. His hair was still jet-black and tousled as if he either had forgotten to brush it or hadn't bothered to do so, his grey eyes still had a distant look in them as if he was in another world, a world which only he could fully understand, and in his hand was one of the toys Julian had given him.

Kit suddenly noticed Will was tugging on arm, looking up to him as if trying to ask him silently why he was hesitating. But suddenly all the anxiety was back. Wasn't it better to live with the hope that one day he and Ty would make up, instead of having this hope now and for always completely crushed? Wasn't it better to just turn around and lead the life he had been leading for the last three years, not quite happy but content? Was it really worth to crush that Ty would one day forgive him? Because, let's be honest, he would crush it. Why would Ty forgive him? What reason did he have? Kit had lied to him, had betrayed him, had left him. Ty clearly didn't love him, so why would he forgive him.

But before Kit could stop himself, before he could think the better of it, turn around and go home, his mouth started forming one word: „Tiberius."

The name felt weird in his mouth after so many years of avoiding to even think it.

Ty turned around, shocked.

„Ty", Kit said, relieved he had reacted. And just like that all the speeches he had prepared just moments ago were gone, wiped from his mind, all he could think of to say was: „Hi."

Ty hesitated for a second, then his eyes lifted up and met Kit's for a brief second. „Hi."

And with just that small word everything in Kit's life fell into place. And he thought, maybe Clave gatherings weren't so bad after all. You never knew whom you might meet there.

 **So, here it is. Part three. I'll admit I had totally forgotten about this story and I'm not quite happy with the last part. But it is a happy end... sort of.**

 **Oh and if you want to read more stuff from me (no fanfictons), feel free to check out my tumblr: obsessedwithreadingandwriting**


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